An inductor, together with a resistor and a capacitor, is a key passive element constituting an electronic circuit. Inductors are used in components to cancel noise or to form an LC resonance circuit. Inductors may be classified as winding type inductors, laminated type inductors, thin film type inductors, and the like, according to the structure thereof.
A winding type inductor may be formed by winding a coil around a ferrite core. A winding type inductor may have stray capacitance generated between coil portions, and accordingly, when the number of turns of a coil is increased to obtain high capacity inductance, degradation of high frequency characteristics may occur.
A laminated type inductor may be formed by laminating a plurality of ceramic sheets. In a laminated type inductor, coil-like metal patterns are formed on respective ceramic sheets, and the coil-like metal patterns may be sequentially connected to one another by a plurality of conductive vias provided in the ceramic sheets. Laminated type inductors are appropriate for mass-production, and have excellent high frequency characteristics compared to winding type inductors.
However, in a laminated type inductor, metal patterns are formed of a material having a low saturation magnetization value. When a laminated type inductor is manufactured to have a small size, the number of laminations of the metal patterns is limited, and this may lead to a degradation in DC superposition characteristics, thereby resulting in a failure to obtain a sufficient current.
A thin film type inductor may use a material having a high saturation magnetization value, and even when a thin film type inductor is manufactured to have a small size, an internal circuit pattern thereof may be easily formed in comparison to a laminated type inductor. Thus, research has been actively undertaken into thin film type inductors.
When a thin film type inductor is manufactured on a large scale, a line width or thickness of a coil may be increased, thereby eliminating degradation in product characteristics due to an increase in series resistance.
However, when a thin film type inductor is manufactured to have a small size, an increase in the line width or thickness of a coil is limited. Thus, delamination, cracks, and the like may occur between internal electrodes formed within the inductor and a substrate, and between magnetic substances of an inductor body during a chip-cutting process.